For more than 47 years, 81-year-old bluegrass legend Roger Sprung has graced Galax and the Old Fiddlers’ Convention with his presence.
The banjo master travels from Newtown, Conn., making a stop at the Clifftop Festival in West Virginia before stopping in Galax each year.
Sitting at his own spot behind the convention stage, suspended letters above his tent announce “SPRUNG IS HERE.”
A cardboard sign written in black marker indicates a schedule of jam sessions at his campsite.

Old video footage, music recordings and photos are helping to keep alive the memory and musical influence of the late Greg Hooven, a Galax native and beloved fiddle player.
Karin Marro Magno became friends with him in 1989 and joined his band, Greg Hooven and The Galax Way. She has begun a not-for-profit project in an effort to remember and pass on Hooven’s influence to upcoming old-time musicians.

To those who attend the Old Fiddlers’ Convention, Galax isn’t a place, it’s a state of mind.
When they say, “Do you remember that jam in the handicapped Porta-John at Galax?” they don’t mean the city, they mean the event.
(They not only once had a full band in the Porta-John, they also had dancers.)

Registration for the Galax Old Fiddlers’ Convention has decreased for the second time in five years, and the second year in a row.
Contestants dropped from 1,909 last year to 1,833 for the contest that begins today, Monday. Last year, registration dropped from 2,004 contestants in 2010, the event's 75th anniversary.
The registration figures were released by the Galax Moose Lodge #733, organizers of the 77-year-old event.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Southwest Virginia’s ‘Round the Mountain (RTM) artisan network has been awarded a competitive grant of $815,000 from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Appalachian Regional Commission.
The innovation grant was awarded to Appalachian Spring, a creative economy initiative through the Friends of Southwest Virginia in partnership with the region’s planning district commissions, People Inc. and Virginia Community Capital, according to a press release from U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA).

Two of the region’s best-known old-time traditional string bands will welcome visitors, fiddlers and fans to Galax with a special Saturday performance at the Historic Rex Theater in downtown Galax.
The Crooked Road Ramblers and White Top Mountain Band will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $5.
The performance is just one day before gates open for the 77th Annual Galax Old Fiddlers’ Convention at Felts Park. The Rex show will set the stage for a week of traditional string band music.

For an hour, Danny Knicely quietly lurked around the registration table, often strumming on his mandolin or stopping to talk to old friends. But unlike the more than 300 other mandolin carriers at Felts Park on Tuesday afternoon, Knicely wasn’t wearing a numbered sticker.
Then suddenly, he darted into a short line. Seconds later, he waved to a cheering crowd, wearing the number 384.

“The Andy Griffith Show” had characters that were beloved all over the world, but here in Southwest Virginia, and especially in Galax — just down the road from the real “Mayberry” — they felt like family.
Griffith’s kindly sheriff character of “Andy Taylor” was a role model of simple country wisdom, humor and compassion, and a father figure to many who tuned in to the show, which ran from 1960 to 1968.
Griffith died Tuesday at his home in Manteo, N.C., at age 86.